/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.13779383]

What does /lit/ think of the Oxford World Classics version of the Illiad?

[Anonymous No.13779441]

>>13779383
Very underrated. I prefer it over Fagles' version.

[Anonymous No.13779487]

>>13779441
(cont.)

Anthony Verity (Oxford):
"Sing, goddess, the anger of Achilles, Peleus' son,
the accused anger which brought the Achaeans countless
agonies and hurled many mighty shades of heroes into Hades,
causing them to become the prey of dogs
and all kinds of birds; and the plan of Zeus was fulfilled."

Robert Fagles (Penguin):
"Rage--Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus' son Achilles,
Murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses,
hurling down to the House of Death so many souls,
great fighters' souls. But made their bodies carrion,
feasts for dogs and birds,
and the will of Zeus was moving towards its end."

[Anonymous No.13779492]

>>13779487
Robert Fitzgerald is the translator of pic related, friend.

[Anonymous No.13779506]

>>13779492
There's a another edition?? My bad, I just read the Fitzgerald one and it's even worse than Fagles, it's shite, sorry lad.

[Anonymous No.13779517]

>>13779506
Oh, shit. What do I do now?

[Anonymous No.13779531]

>>13779517
Buy another edition translated by Pope

[Anonymous No.13779533]

>>13779517
Nah I was kidding, it's actually pretty decent. Read on, lad.

[Anonymous No.13780405]

>>13779487
Where do you find the translation comparisons? I'm starting with the greeks and something like this helps a lot in picking the nicest translation.

[Anonymous No.13780425]

POPE

But seriously literal translations of poetry for anything other than cribbing is autism, and fagles half-way measure just creates a mess that isn't good poetry or even that accurate.

[Anonymous No.13780672]

>>13779517
Get the Chapman version. It was good enough to inspire a poem by Keats in which he sings its praises.

[Anonymous No.13780739]

>>13779383
Fitzgerald, like Lattimore, writes in stilted English, which makes reading it a slog since it sounds very unusual to a native speaker.

[Anonymous No.13780751]

>>13779487
Eh, from the passages they both sound equally good. Both get the point across about what's happening without any purple prose. Whichever translation you have on hand would be the one you read out of the two.

[Anonymous No.13780922]

>>13780405
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HHNSVOZYdg&list=PL5N_cJnaI3c-oQ2vlrGhq2DLUrSOHUEOc

[Anonymous No.13780998]

I just got this one because I wanted a nice copy that would last forever
It’s Fitzgerald
Is that bad or good?

[Anonymous No.13781016]

>>13779487
fuck, the oxford one is the better one considering this example.

[Anonymous No.13781058]

>>13781016
You seriously like "all kinds of birds"? Fagles starts out bad with rage. Also "sing the rage of Achilles">"sing the anger of Achilles"

[Anonymous No.13781061]

I’m gonna read the Iliad and then the Odyssey soon
Should I read them out loud to myself? It just seems right

[Anonymous No.13781082]

>>13780998
You want Pope's Iliad, but if you want a nice well bound copy of that be willing to spend some real cash, and Fitzgerald's Odyssey
At least that's what the memes are trying to communicate to us, but I read prose translations of both and I still loved them as a young teen

You shouldn't obsess over this stuff too much, but really don't fall for the "most accurate translation" meme
A poetic rendering of the same tale in English is probably preferable, a more authentic continuation of the tradition, but like.. whatever man

[Anonymous No.13781170]

>>13781082
>don’t fall for the “most accurate translation” meme
Yeah, once I realized Homer likely wasn’t a real person and these stories have been passed down verbally for thousands and thousands of years before being written down, it occurred to me that word for word translation is really irrelevant

[Anonymous No.13781820]

>>13780922
>Jove=Zeus
what the fuck was Pope thinking?? top kek

[Anonymous No.13781832]

>>13780998
>It’s Fitzgerald. Is that bad or good?

Fitzgerald is... weird:

Anger be now your song, immortal one,
Akhilleus’ anger, doomed and ruinous,
that caused the Akhaians loss on bitter loss
and crowded brave souls into the undergloom,
leaving so many dead men—carrion
for dogs and birds; and the will of Zeus was done.

[Anonymous No.13781845]

>>13781082
>but really don't fall for the "most accurate translation" meme
This. It's like Borges used to say "A translation is like a woman: if she's loyal then she's not pretty, and if she's pretty then she's not loyal."

[Anonymous No.13781850]

>>13781016
agree

[Anonymous No.13781855]

>>13781061
yeah, that's the way to do it so you can feel the force of the poetry and the weight of the words.

[Anonymous No.13782151]

>>13781832
Okay, now this is epic.

[Anonymous No.13782163]

>>13781832
>the undergloom
sounds like a gay night club

[Anonymous No.13782186]

>>13782151
yes, it was an epic

[Anonymous No.13782215]

>>13779383
very neutral

[Anonymous No.13782228]

>>13782215
What do you mean? Which translator?

[Anonymous No.13782244]

>>13782228
the oxford world classics version is purposefully very neutral staying very close to the original source material, there is not much room for interpretation in the version

[Anonymous No.13782268]

>>13782244
Well, there's two translations from Oxford, Fitzgerald's and Verity's. Also, I sill don't sure what you mean by neutral. Do you expect them to be their own thing like Pope's version and staying away from the original instead of being a translation?

[Anonymous No.13782275]

>>13782268
I'm still not sure*

[Anonymous No.13782314]

let me quickly hijack this thread
what's the best/your favourite translation of Odyssey?